Jane Krakowski and Sean Hayes to Headline Encores! Damn Yankees

Tony Award winner and 30 Rock TV star Jane Krakowski and Will & Grace alum Sean Hayes will headline Damn Yankees this summer at New York City Center's Encores! Summer Stars series. The classic musical will run from July 5 to July 27 at New York City Center, directed by John Rando The Wedding Singer, Urinetown, with music direction by Rob Berman. A July 10 opening is planned.

Damn Yankees has a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and is based on Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. It tells the story of Joe Boyd, the ultimate baseball fan, who sells his soul to the Devil Sean Hayes for the chance to help his team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant race against the Yankees. The Devil is aided by the sexy Lola Jane Krakowski, who seduces Joe, but ultimately helps him outsmart the Devil and return to his beloved wife. Songs include "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants.”

Krakowski won a Tony Award for playing Carla in the 2003 revival of Nine and was nominated for a Tony for her performance as Flaemmchen in Grand Hotel. Her other Broadway credits include Company, Once Upon a Mattress, Tartuffe and Starlight Express. In London, she received a 2006 Olivier Award for playing Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. On television, Krakowski was a regular on Ally McBeal and currently stars as Jenna Maroney on NBC's 30 Rock.

Hayes will make his making his New York stage debut in Damn Yankees. An Emmy winner for playing Jack on Will & Grace, he has appeared in the films The Bucket List, Pieces of April, The Cat in the Hat, Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss and Cats and Dogs. He starred as Jerry Lewis in the TV movie The Martin & Lewis Story. Lewis himself last appeared on Broadway as The Devil in Damn Yankees.

The original Broadway production of Damn Yankees opened at the 46th Street Theatre now the Richard Rodgers on May 5, 1955, playing 1,019 performances. Directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Bob Fosse, the original cast included Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston. The musical was revived on Broadway in 1994 with a cast that included Bebe Neuwirth, Victor Garber and Jarrod Emick.